


Do not let my fickle flesh go to waste

by arrowsgirlfriday



Series: Tell the World [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, The dream team is facing a crisis, also because Tommy is emotionally intelligent, because communication rocks, but they will get out of it, post s01e15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23361484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrowsgirlfriday/pseuds/arrowsgirlfriday
Summary: It's one of those rare nights off for Tommy, and all he wants to do is go home, surprise his wife, and cook dinner. And when she's not there, he's not upset, he knows he shouldn't expect her to just mope around their home when she knows he's not gonna be home.What he definitely does not expect is for her to not be able to open the door when she arrives.orFelicity finally confesses what's been going on between her and Oliver.
Relationships: Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak, Tommy Merlyn & Oliver Queen, Tommy Merlyn/Felicity Smoak
Series: Tell the World [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/923646
Comments: 12
Kudos: 32





	1. Night

_February 20th, 2013_

_I’m going to the charity auction w Oliver. I love you and I miss you. See you later._

Well, there went his plan to surprise his wife tonight. 

As he came to an empty apartment, again, he decides that it’s a good thing she’s getting to know Oliver.

Back when they were newly married he had mentioned how much he would’ve liked her to meet Oliver. And now he was here, and they were getting to know each other, probably becoming friends even.

While everybody around him was telling him that his best friend was hiding something, Tommy knew that whatever it was, was probably just a very serious case of PTSD. However, a certain Thea Queen had warned him that that something was a more than innocent liking to his wife. 

Which was ridiculous. 

Because Felicity was not hiding an affair with his recently resurrected best friend. 

However, Felicity was hiding something.

But it wasn’t that. 

Maybe it was cat. She _would_ get a cat and hide it when he was home.

He was just getting a little tired that when he had an odd night off, Felicity wasn’t home. And he knew he was being slightly unfair, his schedule could be unpredictable, and when it was his official day off, she was always there. As he turned on the light to the living room, he shook his head, he missed her, but he’d see her in a little while.

He took a shower, then cooked some pasta which he ate accompanied by a glass of red wine. Then saved some pasta for the following week into small containers. After he was done eating, then cleaning everything up from his dinner, he sat down on the couch with his glass and kept at his book. He hoped to be able to get through at least the next four chapters.

He was woken up by a rattling sound and then the sound of keys falling. It was someone attempting to get inside, he gave a little snort, wondering which of his neighbors had drunkenly mistaken their apartment. He got up and went to the peephole, to his surprise it was his wife. Looking very disheveled and a little stiff. He briefly wondered if she was drunk, so he opened the door, ready to make a joke about her having a fun night off when she saw him and started crying.

He was startled and hurried to hug her. She shook her head and pulled him inside, he locked the door behind them and turned to hold her. She once again shook her head. He was starting to get concerned, did something happen to her? Had she been hurt on her way home? 

“Honey, tell me what’s going on,” he pleaded in a low voice, his heart beating rapidly in his chest, “please.” 

“I don’t want to do this anymore.” His heart skipped a beat, he was very confused by this conversation. Did she mean this conversation? Living in Starling? He took a deep breath, he needed to be calm while she freaked out, if they both panicked everything was going to become a mess.


	2. Morning

“I hope that by this you mean coming to our home in such a nice dress while shaking as if you just saw a ghost.” She shook her head slightly and whimpered. Her eyes darted around as if looking for an answer, or an escape route. So he decided to just keep talking, maybe the familiarity of his amazing sense of humor and incredible bedside manner would calm her enough to be able to tell him what was going on.

“And while I don’t mind the dress, you looking so out of it is very concerning.” There went his attempt at being cool about it. But honestly, who could blame him for being worried? 

His monologue finally pulled out a small smile from her and she finally gave him something to work with. “Tommy, can’t you ask for tomorrow off?”

“Yeah, yes, tomorrow, or well, today is my day off, remember?”

She huffed out a sad attempt of a laugh, "Of course, I knew that." 

Tommy coaxed her to take her heels off and sit down, he offered to unzip her to which she responded by hugging him, which was not really an answer, so he just hugged her back. After a couple of minutes, he felt her start to shake, as if cold. So he reached behind him and draped a blanket around her shoulders. Felicity gave him a smile in thanks and he felt confident to retake her statement.

“Ok, so what can’t you do anymore?” he asked with the lightest tone he could summon. 

“I -” she started, then paused, took a deep breath and rushed out: “I’m working with the Hood.”

He nodded. 

He kept nodding. 

Totally normal. Totally cool. 

Right. His wife was working with the vigilante. 

And today she arrived very late and acting a little erratically. 

But she said she'd been with Oliver. So she just drank too much, that's okay.

Inebriation he could deal with, he'd had years of experience.

“Felicity-” he started, only to be interrupted by her. 

“Wait, and I know the Hood’s real name.” And it kept getting cooler, so normal and great. His wife was in a first name basis with the most wanted criminal of Starling City. Amazing. He was this close to laughing, is that what it means to lose it? React in a very not logical way? Probably.

“I’m not sure I want to know that.” There, short, sweet, slightly unhinged sounding, but to the point. He was not interested in knowing who the psycho was. Nope.

“You do.” She insisted, and so Tommy shook his head at his sweet, loving wife, because he really did not want to know. “It’s Oliver.” 

The laughter burst out, unintended, without any control from him.

“Yeah, right.” He scoffed, the alcohol's doing. That's what he was going with. Alcohol made you say crazy things. Even though she didn't smell like she had drunk anything. Even though her eyes were steadily holding his. Even though she'd never lied to him before. Before the vigilante. Had she lied to him? She was still staring at him, seriously, studiously, waiting for him to catch up. So patient. Waiting for the pieces to fall into place. And when they did, and fall, oh, how they fell. Like a boulder onto his stomach, pushing all the air out from his lungs. And now he was the one who needed a hug. Urgently. “You’re serious,” he finally got out, he nodded to himself, “PTSD has fucked him up.” He kept nodding, that was it. His friend just needed a psychologist, maybe a psychiatrist. 

Felicity let out a tiny snort. “That’s one way to put it.” 

His head felt like a, like a bobblehead toy's. Silly, useless, annoying to a certain degree. Just nodding uselessly. 

Was he in shock? He went over the symptoms on his mind and decided that he was probably getting there.

So he did the only sensible thing left to do: ask for more information.

“Since when?”

“Since he got back, maybe." Felicity's calm was back, most likely to compensate for his lack of it. "Or well, when you both got kidnapped is probably more accurate.”

“No,” Tommy shook his head, mentally congratulating himself that he wasn't nodding anymore. “Since when have you worked with him? When-” he cleared his throat, he could feel his voice becoming thin, frail, he was slightly reluctant to know the answer. “When did you find out it was Ollie?”

At this, her calm, business-like demeanor disappeared and she bit her lip. Whatever it was, she knew he wasn't going to like it.

“Less than three weeks ago.”

How she knew him. Tommy did not appreciate the fact at the moment.

“Three weeks-” back with the nodding. “You’ve been-” Tommy didn't know where to start. Everything, nothing. His mind felt blank. “I-” He needed to know more, but he was not sure what more. And why there was more. Had Felicity betrayed him? Did this count as betrayal? He felt a little betrayed. “Why?”

“Well, Moira shot him and-”

“Moira did what?” He asked, but then redirected. That was not important right now. “Never mind that, why didn’t you tell me? Before?" _Why didn't you trust me?_ Was what he really wanted to know. That's where the feeling of betrayal was coming from. "Why not come to me when he was shot? I could’ve helped.”

“I know, Tommy-” Felicity reaches for him, and a part of him wants to put distance between them. Let his feelings have a physical outlet. But he also wants to be comforted. Her actions have hurt him and he knows he needs to cool down or he'll make getting out this situation harder. So, Tommy feels a bit warmer by her touch on his arm, “I was in shock, he had hidden on the back seat of my car and -”

“You know to check from the outside before getting in a car-” he says automatically as his other hand reaches to where Felicity is holding his arm and squeezes her hand. It's cold.

“Yes, but I was tired and my mind was on our plans for the next day.” She smiled softly and Tommy couldn't help but sigh. “Tommy, he asked me not to tell you, and-” this hurts him. That her loyalty lies elsewhere. That Oliver's demand had more weight than the love that she has for Tommy. This must show on his face, but he can't, and doesn't want to, control it. Let her see how she's hurt him. “I know, I know. But he’s your best friend and he just got back from the dead, and he swore he was going to tell you soon.” 

“What changed?” he asks, dreading whatever the answer is. She didn't look at peace when she arrived, she looked the opposite of it. That meant she was not planning on revealing this secret yet, something had changed. His mind was trying to take him back to Thea's words, but he would not allow it. Felicity wouldn't do that. He didn't know Oliver anymore, obviously. But Felicity, his wife, his best friend, wouldn't. 

“I went to one of his missions and-” the face he makes is absolutely reflexive, he'd had no control over it. As was his attempted interjection.

“Wha-” Felicity, however, stops him from finishing by letting out her next words rapidly.

“And I became a bit of a hostage," Tommy notes absently that she's speaking almost flippantly, "with a bomb collar on my neck, but you know… I’m fine now.” Typical of her, try to make light of an obviously not light situation to keep him from worrying. It has never worked, but she still tries.

“See," he said, sure his eyes were bulging out a little, "this is not how you finish a story, that’s how you start it-” Felicity gave a sheepish shrug accompanied by what she would argue was a charming smile, in his opinion, it looked like a tremulous half grin at best. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, relieved. "I am sorry Tommy, I really am. I thought he would tell you, but when I had that bomb around my neck, all I could think was of you." Her eyes started tearing up, her voice losing strength, "I couldn't bear the thought that if that was the end, you wouldn't know why, or how. And I have no doubt that Oliver would not have told you, even then, that he's the Hood." She let out a deep breath, her whole body sinking into the couch. "I don't want to keep a secret for someone I have just met, even if he is your best friend and brother." She was apologetic, but firm. He loved her so much. "You're more important." When she begun speaking, he knew all was forgiven, but it was amazing how her words were a balm to all his anxieties and doubts. He was deeply in love with her, and even if her actions had hurt him, he recognized where her heart was at. And though it hadn't been the best decision, all was forgotten. And as they hugged tightly, all Tommy could think was how close he had been to losing her and how thankful he was that he hadn't. 


End file.
